http://www.ljworld.com/section/archive/story/84609
U.S. rail is at crossroads
By Mike Hoeflich
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2002
Published in the Lawrence Journal World.
This year, the U.S. Congress must deal with an issue that could
have a lasting effect on the
United States economy and on the world's environment. A recent
report to Congress by a special
commission has made it clear that Amtrak is not economically
viable and that something must be
done.
Congress can choose a number of paths. It can choose simply to
allow Amtrak to disappear and
with it the future of passenger rail traffic in the United
States. Or Congress could go to the other
extreme and decide to maintain Amtrak through a massive infusion
of cash, in effect, accepting
that the only way to save passenger rail is to provide a
permanent federal subsidy. Alternatively,
Congress could also decide to assist in the break-up of Amtrak
and the sale of its assets to a
variety of private corporations which would then try to make
passenger rail service a viable
business in a competitive market situation.
Whatever choices Congress makes about the future of passenger
rail service can only be
understood in their historical and legal context. Traditionally,
the United States was a leader in the
railroad industry. Railroads united the American continent. It
was the railroads that fostered
eastern emigration to the new western territories. The success of
thousands of towns and cities
across the nation depended upon the railroads that passed through
them. Railroads were, in many
respects, the lifeblood of the American economy throughout the
19th and well into the 20th
century. What happened to change all this?
Contrary to popular belief, the decline of the railroads in the
United States was not simply a
function of the free market. Railroads continued to be an
important part of our transportation
system long after the introduction of the automobile and, indeed,
long after the commercialization
of air transportation. Until the end of World War II, both
intra-city and intercity rail transport
flourished in the United States.
But thereafter a steep decline set in. Indeed, it is shocking to
realize that it takes longer today on
many intercity routes to travel by train than it did in the
1930s. The routes themselves have not
changed. Instead, maintenance of tracks has been neglected for so
long that trains are limited in
how fast they can travel on many popular routes.
The decline of the American rail system is directly attributable
to governmental choices made in
the 1940s and 1950s. These choices were influenced in part by the
growth of the automobile
industry and the demand for more and better roads and by the
concomitant growth of the air
transport industry and the need to finance new and bigger
airports.
Another factor which helped to turn government planners against
the rail system was the military
experience of World War II. Trains were easy targets for
precision bombing, since they were tied
to rails. Trucks could hide from such perils. Thus, the growth of
the interstate road system was,
to a large extent, justified by military necessity. There simply
was not enough money to fund air,
road and rail transport. The railroads were the losers, and
government support for the railroads
declined enormously and, in fact, the government imposed taxes on
rail transport that gave other
industries like the airlines a competitive advantage.
The fact of the matter is that what Congress faces today as a
crisis in our passenger rail system is
a crisis that was created by the federal government 50 years ago.
But times and necessities have
changed. In fact, railroads have much to offer us today. They are
potentially a far cleaner and
more efficient form of transport than automobiles. Further, since
the deregulation of airlines,
many air routes have been cut back or eliminated, a process that
has only accelerated since the
tragic events of Sept. 11. Many cities and even whole regions of
the United States are no longer
well served by the airlines.
Congress has an opportunity now to revisit a series of decisions
that were made a half century
ago and may well have been wrong. Certainly, the military
concerns that motivated much of the
planning that contributed to the decline of American rail
transport have disappeared. Further, in
the 1940s and 1950s, government was not concerned with pollution
or the greenhouse effect.
What is needed today is a thorough study not simply of whether
Amtrak is viable but whether the
United States could be well served by a revitalized rail
transport system. There are many experts
who believe that this could be the case. If so, Congress should
take action to ensure that this is
accomplished. In the long term, this could well be one of the
most important decisions Congress
will make in the coming years.
— Mike Hoeflich is a professor in the Kansas University
School of Law.
